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Dr. David Hubbard, founder of the Hubbard Foundation, is a neurologist whose son was diagnosed with MS and who has since turned the focus of his research to CCSVI.

Hubbard cannot understand why other neurologists are not embracing CCSVI, which he calls the most exciting area for advancement in MS, and has said many times that all neurologists should be investigating it in every way possible, including encouraging their MS patients to participate.

Hubbard says that neurologists' stubborn insistence that MS is a viral or autoimmune disorder, despite no evidence even after billions of research dollars have been spent on this theory, is the real hoax and that the ineffective drugs available to treat MS only give false hope.

I think Dr. Zamboni does not have the neurological knowledge to address whether MS is autoimmune or not, so he defers to the former body of knowledge on that one, and talks about how CCSVI can dovetail right in with what is already known about MS. (There was always some unknown way in which the blood-brain barrier broke down in the autoimmune theory; CCSVI fills that gap in knowledge.)

I agree with Dr. Hubbard, CCSVI is an incredibly exciting area of research in MS. There have been decades of research on the autoimmune theory and, while not coming up entirely empty, I'd say it's come up next-to-empty.

Cece wrote:I think Dr. Zamboni does not have the neurological knowledge to address whether MS is autoimmune or not, so he defers to the former body of knowledge on that one, and talks about how CCSVI can dovetail right in with what is already known about MS. (There was always some unknown way in which the blood-brain barrier broke down in the autoimmune theory; CCSVI fills that gap in knowledge.)

I agree with Dr. Hubbard, CCSVI is an incredibly exciting area of research in MS. There have been decades of research on the autoimmune theory and, while not coming up entirely empty, I'd say it's come up next-to-empty.

There is an analogy I saw on this board that I like: If your water pipes back up and shorts out the wiring in your attic, you will need a plumber first, to fix your pipes, but you will still need an electrician to fix the damage to your wiring.

There was never any chance to fix the wiring while the pipes were still not working.

More research is needed though. The results so far are a real mixed bag with most people not doing as well as they thought they would.
I don't want the MS community to be bogged down with another theory that sounds great but does not actually work in practice.
Finding out what causes MS would be a great start.

codefellow wrote:There is an analogy I saw on this board that I like: If your water pipes back up and shorts out the wiring in your attic, you will need a plumber first, to fix your pipes, but you will still need an electrician to fix the damage to your wiring.

There was never any chance to fix the wiring while the pipes were still not working.

I was diagnosed with MS, then 8 years later, Hashimoto's Disease, then 2 years after that, Coeliac Disease, so I have three auto-immune conditions.
For many years I was given no particular treatment, except prednisone, & then, 8 years of inter-betaferon, 10 of methotrexate. These did nothing for me & I was a crippled, bedridden mess.
I parted company with my neuro, & discovered on the net, Low Dose Naltrexone & 4-aminopyridine. I credit these two drugs, particularly the LDN, for bringing me back to life!
A few months later I had angioplasty for CCSVI, & I had so many improvements & felt incredibly Well.
I have now had angio a total of three times, & attribute it to my well-being today. People say I look so very well.
So LDN boosts your immune system & increases the T cells to 300% & this has most Definitely been the Best treatment for MS, & the angio for CCSVI amazing benefits.
I now doubt the auto-immune theory because of the LDN, but don't know why I have the auto-immune diseases - all a bit perplexing....

It's wonderful to hear of people doing so well, glad the new steps have helped to make you healthy. Now if the neuro's would actually look and acknowledge the vast amounts of information; the research might move forward.

Cece wrote:There have been decades of research on the autoimmune theory and, while not coming up entirely empty, I'd say it's come up next-to-empty.

I have very little use with the pure autoimmunity theory. There have been, as Dr. H allegedly said, billions spent and almost nothing of concrete value proven about the auto immunity theory. I have had MS for 35 years, and that was the predominant theory for most of that time, and my impatience that the medical profession could never seem to get a handle on the cause or how to effectively treat the disease made me feel that they must be barking up the wrong tree.

I agree with Cece, though, the breakdown of the BBB brings immune response into play, and that BBB breakdown has never been explained, but CCSVI does suggest a possible cause for that.

its hard to blame dr's. its human nature. if your taught something and nobodies contradicted it for a century and your older, set in your ways. its hard to convince them. then you got drug companies pumping in money.

what did al gore say, "that when a person's paycheck depends on him not understanding something, it becomes hard for that person to understand it."

At least for a while, it seems that the researchers looked at CCSVI as a way to explain the autoimmune component of "MS".

Since lesions developed around veins, CCSVI (blocked or compromised veins) may be a contributing factor. This has been documented for decades.

Then the doctors suggested that the lesions and/or the iron that accumulated around the leakage from the veins might explain what set off the autoimmune reaction. That's an elegant answer to neurologists' questions about what causes the body to attack itself. One of the reasons that the current MS drugs that are supposed to treat the immune system are relatively ineffective is that scientists are treating the symptoms without understanding the cause.

MS is hard to diagnose and many conditions have similar symptoms. If you have symptoms that have been treated by a venoplasty -- and have not returned -- perhaps you should discuss with your neurologist whether you should continue taking medication for MS.

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